Robert is the son of Robert Sr. and Ada Parish. He is the oldest of their four children.[1]

Parish was already 6 feet 6 inches in the seventh grade when junior high coach Coleman Kidd first noticed him and encouraged him to play basketball, which was new to him. Coleman would come to the Parish family home if Robert missed a practice and gave Parish a basketball to practice with. It was at this time that Parish started wearing his uniform No. 00: On the day they passed out the uniforms in junior high school, it was the only jersey left.[1][2]

“I really didn’t like basketball growing up.” Parish said, talking about how he focused instead on football, baseball, and track. “[Coach] Coleman would] come to my house and take me to practice every day until I had to start showing up myself, I give all the credit to him.”[2]

“The reason why I chose Centenary is because of their coaches,” Parish said. “I was very impressed with the coaches."[2]

In 1965, the NCAA adopted the so-called "1.6 rule" to determine academic eligibility of incoming freshmen.[4][5] Under its provisions, freshmen academically qualified if their high school grades and standardized test scores predicted a minimum college grade point average of 1.6 on a 4-point scale.[4]

Parish, who led Woodlawn High School in Shreveport to the Louisiana High School Athletic Association Class AAAA state championship in 1972, took a standardized test that did not fit the NCAA's formula; Centenary converted his score to an equivalent that fit the formula, which it had done for 12 other athletes in the previous two years. This was a violation of NCAA regulations; however, the NCAA had not paid any attention to the school's actions before Parish's recruitment.[3]

Shortly before Parish was to enroll, the NCAA notified Centenary that he and four other basketball players whose test scores had been converted were ineligible to play there, but said that the school would not be subject to penalty if it rescinded the five scholarships. Centenary argued that the rule did not say that the school could not convert the scores of Parish and the other players, while the NCAA argued that Centenary could not use the test taken by Parish and the other players to establish eligibility.[3]

When Centenary refused to pull the scholarships, the NCAA issued one of the most draconian sanctions in its history. The school's basketball program was put on probation for six years, during which time it was not only barred from postseason play, but its results and statistics were excluded from weekly statistics and its existence was not acknowledged in the NCAA's annual press guides.[3]

Within days of its decision, the NCAA repealed the 1.6 rule—but refused to make the five players eligible. A few months later, all five, including Parish, sued the NCAA for their eligibility at Centenary, but lost.[3] The decision made Parish a sort of "invisible man" who racked up huge statistical totals in virtual obscurity. In his four years at Centenary, the Gents went 87-21 and spent 14 weeks in the AP Top 20 poll,[6] mostly during his senior season in 1975–76.[7] While he averaged 21.6 points and 16.9 rebounds per game during his Centenary career and[7] Centenary recognized his records, the NCAA would not include Parish's statistics in its record books.[8][9]

Between his junior and senior years, Parish played for Team USA at the 1975Pan American Games. His difficulties with the NCAA indirectly led to his not being recommended for a spot on the team. Centenary paid his way to Salt Lake City to try out; he made the team, was unanimously elected captain, and led the team to a gold medal.[3]

Throughout his time at Centenary, Parish chose not to escape anonymity by either jumping to the National Basketball Association or American Basketball Association (the latter of which existed until the ABA–NBA merger in 1976), or by transferring to another college, even though the professional ranks offered him potential riches and a transfer would have given him eligibility and far more publicity. At the time, professional scouts did not question his physical skills, but were divided as to whether his decision to stay at Centenary was a show of loyalty or evidence of poor decision-making.[3] For his part, Parish said, "I didn't transfer because Centenary did nothing wrong. And I have no regrets. None."[10]

Overall, Parish averaged 21.6 points and 16.9 rebounds in his 108 game career at Centenary and 24.8 points and 18 rebounds as a senior. The Sporting News named him a first-team All-American as a senior.[11]

In 2018, the NCAA announced that Parish's records would be recognized and placed into the NCAA Record Book after a formal appeal from Centenary College to do so was honored.[12][13]

After college, Parish was drafted in the first round of the 1976 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. He had also been drafted by the Utah Stars in the 1973 ABA Special Circumstances draft and by the Spurs in the 1975 ABA draft. Parish signed with the Warriors. The Warriors were NBA champions in 1975 (two seasons prior to Parish's rookie campaign). However, when Parish joined the Warriors, their decline had begun, and they missed the playoffs completely from 1978 to 1980.

"I was seriously thinking about having a very short basketball career before the trade because of all the losing that I experienced with the Warriors, and being blamed for the Warriors demise." Parish said of his time with Golden State. "I understand that because I was the No. 1 player taken (by the team in the 1976 draft) and the blame falls on my shoulders. But basketball is not an individual sport. It's a team sport. And I just feel like the team was an assembly of misfits and too much independent thinking. Guys were thinking about themselves as opposed to the team."[14]

Heading into the 1980 NBA draft, the Boston Celtics lost Dave Cowens to retirement and had Larry Bird ready to start his second NBA season. The Celtics held the number-one overall pick in the draft.

On June 9, 1980, in a pre-draft trade, Celtics president Red Auerbach dealt the top overall pick and an additional first-round pick to the Warriors for Parish and the Warriors' first-round pick, the third overall. With that pick, the Celtics chose Kevin McHale. The Warriors then selected Joe Barry Carroll with the first pick.[16]

Reflecting on the trade after his retirement, Parish said, "I was surprised initially. But once I hung up from the Warriors after they called me and told me I was being traded to the Boston Celtics, I cheered and I jumped up and down... because I went from the (penitentiary) to the penthouse, in my opinion...That was what was so rewarding about being with the Celtics because they were all about team. You play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the name on the back of the jersey. So it was refreshing for me because that's my mentality, with the players I was playing with (in Golden State), I could not get them to understand the benefits and the rewards of playing together. They didn't get it for whatever reason. Being traded to the Celtics changed the trajectory of my career."[14]

Completing the trade gave the Celtics an imposing front court consisting of Bird, Parish, Cedric Maxwell and McHale.

Playing 14 years with the Celtics from 1980 to 1994, Parish won three NBA titles (1981, 1984 and 1986), teaming with Bird and power forward McHale. The trio came to be known as "The Big Three", and are regarded as one of the greatest front courts in NBA history; all three were named to the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.

Parish is the Celtics' all-time leader in blocked shots (1,703), offensive rebounds (3,450), and defensive rebounds (7,601).[17]Bill Russell remains the team's career leader in total rebounds, as offensive and defensive rebounds were not tabulated separately prior to the 1973-1974 season.

In 14 seasons and 1106 games with the Celtics, Parish averaged a double-double of 16.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks, shooting 55.2% from the floor.[16]

He was known as a versatile center, using his 7' size and speed to contain opposing players, launch precise shots from outside the paint, and finish fast breaks – the latter uncanny for a man of his stature. Fellow Hall-of-Famer and teammate from 1985 to 1987 Bill Walton once called Parish the "greatest shooting big man of all time", perhaps because of Parish's field goal and free throw shooting ability, an unusual talent among most centers. His trademark was his high-release jump shot, which traversed a very high arc before falling.

"There was no showmanship to Robert's game," said Walton, "There was the rebounding. There was the defense. There was the scoring. There was the setting of screens. There was the way he ran the floor. How many centers in today's NBA do any of that?"

In 1996, Parish, along with teammates Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. In 1998, the Celtics retired Parish's famous #00 jersey number at halftime of a Celtics–Pacers game; this allowed Bird, then head coach of the Pacers, to participate in the ceremony.

"He was there for every practice," McHale said of Parish. "For every game. He very seldom missed anything, including assignments on the floor. His longevity is unbelievable, but his dependability was just as impressive."[11]

Parish remains active as a Celtics team consultant and mentor for current Celtics big men.

“I have never been one to seek or want attention or admiration or a pat on the back for what I’ve done,” Parish said. “I did my job. I got paid for doing my job. That was enough for me. That’s one of the reasons I was able to accept a lesser role on those teams in the ’80s. I didn’t have a huge ego.”[20]

^ At that time, freshmen were not eligible to play varsity athletics. The NCAA allowed freshmen to play varsity sports other than football and basketball in 1968, and extended freshman varsity eligibility to those sports in 1972.

Larry Bird

Larry Joe Bird is an American former professional basketball player, former coach, and former executive who most recently served as President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "The Hick from French Lick," Bird has been described as one of the greatest basketball players and greatest shooters of all time.

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